Peggy Grant’s Blog

Discussions can be important learning activities for students, partly because they reflect how controversial topics are often addressed in the real world. Discussions encourage students to listen to others' ideas, articulate their thoughts, and support their opinions. Effective discussions, however, don't happen by accident. They require careful planning and implementation.

The term "class discussion" often conjures up the image of Ben Stein, the teacher in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, droning "Anyone? Anyone?" to a room full of glassy-eyed students.

In student-centered classrooms, students take on many responsibilities held only by teachers in traditional classrooms. One of the most critical of these responsibilities is assessment. Learning to assess their peers' learning processes and products is an important step on the way to self-direction and independence.

A lively discussion deepens learning and energizes students and teachers. A lively discussion deepens learning and energizes students and teachers. Unfortunately, we’ve all had the experience of waiting for any student  to make a meaningful comment about what we thought was an interesting topic. Even when a discussion appears to go well, more than half the students can be unengaged. A few guidelines can help you turn a so-so discussion into a dynamic learning experience:

Student blogs are excellent forums for soliciting and giving feedback on student work because viewers can easily comment on an entry. Peer-assessment, such as this, is one way in which students learn to assess their own work, an necessary skill for independent learning. Helping students learn this important skill is critical in a 21st century classroom.

Unfortunately, the vision of a blog in which students participate in lively exchanges on substantive matters related to their work is rarely achieved. Instead, Often, if students comment at all, they respond generically to what is clearly a finished piece of work.